Terracotta Art of Satavahana

 Satavahanas who ruled Deccan for a long time during the early centuries of the Christian era brought consolidation in many spheres. Terracotta art flourished during that period and was unsurpassed. There was a spectacular and unprecedented growth of the terracotta industry during that period not only due to the artistic taste of the people but also due to great demand from the maritime trade from the western world. This period is specially marked by its creative activity in adopting new techniques in manufacturing terracotta by adopting double moulds. Terracottas of the Satavahana period can ‘easily be distinguished by a common factor of theme, form and style’. In this endeavour, the author studied a large number of individual excavation reports of Satavahana sites. He has covered six states viz., Maharastra, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu and Madhya Pradesh where traces of Satavahana culture existed. Also visited many museums in some of these states. The author has revised the title to “Terracotta Art of Satavahanas’ after incorporating the material from the above states. He tried to compile and interpret the material in a consolidated manner for the first time as no effort was made by any scholar earlier in this regard to glance through the material comprehensively in one place. Useful to scholars as well as researchers.